A registered bond is a bond for which the issuing entity maintains a list of the owners. A registered bond may state the name of its owner on its face, and is only transferable with the owner's endorsement. This approach is useful for the issuer, since it can send dividend payments to bond owners based on its internal records.

The reverse of a registered bond is a bearer bond, for which there is no owner record. The issuer of a bearer bond issues dividend payments to whomever holds the bond.